FOI Pregnant Domestic Abuse Victims (0471-2022/23)

Request

My request relates to pregnancy and domestic abuse. I define domestic abuse related crimes as any incidence of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults, aged 16 years and over, who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality, as per the ONS definition.

Please could you provide the following information:

Per calendar year, between 2017 up to and including 2021, of the reported domestic abuse incidents how many of the victims were pregnant?

If breaking down the data per calendar year takes this over the cost limit, please can you provide the information for the total number of victims of domestic abuse incidents who were pregnant in the years 2017-2021.

Response

Extent of Searches to Locate Information

Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police to locate relevant information. 

Decision

I am not obliged to provide you with a response to your request pursuant to Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please note that when one part of your request falls under Section 12, we are not obliged to review the rest of the questions and the whole request is therefore exempt.

Section 12(1) applies to your request as the cost of complying with your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of identifying and retrieving any relevant information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Due to the nature of our recording systems the information requested, if held, is not in an easily retrievable format. Our data retrieval process usually relies on a computer ran report which obtains information from within specified fields. Whether a victim is pregnant is not mandatorily recorded within a specified field and is therefore not searchable. Furthermore, we would only be aware if the victim informed us of such. To retrieve the requested information, it would be necessary to manually review all crime records within the time frame requested to identify any incidents relevant to your request, which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act. 

Pursuant to Section 17(5) of the Freedom of Information Act this letter acts as a Refusal Notice.

Pursuant to Section 16 of the Act I am required to offer you advice and assistance with regarding to refining your request to within the ‘appropriate limit’ (time/cost limit). However, due to the information provided above I am unable to suggest how you may refine your request and still receive the information within the cost threshold.  If you wish to discuss this please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.